The Bracelet
by Mara Greengrass
Summary: Hoshi's sad, and Annie's in town to cheer her up. (Prequel to my fic "Dear Annie")


TITLE: The Bracelet  
AUTHOR: Mara Greengrass  
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL: fishfolk@ix.netcom.com. Feedback is better than chocolate.  
PERMISSION TO ARCHIVE: Yes, just ask.  
CATEGORY: Drama   
RATINGS/WARNINGS: G   
SUMMARY: Hoshi's sad, and Annie's in town to cheer her up.  
DISCLAIMER: Enterprise and all its crew belong to Paramount and many other entities with expensive lawyers. I am making no profit from this story.  
NOTES: You really need to read my fic "Dear Annie" for this to make sense. This is a response to a Challenge in a Can from the Linguistics Database (http://judy.jteers.net/lingdata/indexframe.html). I'll reveal my challenge at the end. To see the original Challenge in a Can, visit http://www.dymphna.net/challenge/.  
DEDICATION: For JustVisiting, who asked nicely for stories about Hoshi and Annie's early days. And for Jessica, who helped me through plenty of things that seemed catastrophic at the time.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Hoshi sat slumped on her couch, fingers absently smoothing across the skin of her right wrist. In the distance, she could hear the sound of the rainstorm that had started mere moments after Annie bounded in the door and hugged her fiercely. The rain sounds made an odd counterpoint to the strains of Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet," playing in the background.  
  
Annie plopped down next to Hoshi and shook her frizzy brown hair out of her face impatiently. "C'mon, babe, tell me about it. It can't be all that bad. I mean, unless he..." She stopped. "He didn't lay a hand on you, did he?"  
  
At that, Hoshi looked up from contemplation of her wrist, into Annie's familiar and concerned face. "No, no, of course not, nothing like that."  
  
Annie relaxed against the arm of the couch. "That's good. But you know when I get my hands on Eric, I can guarantee he's gonna be hurting," she said.  
  
"You're the seventh person on four continents to say that."  
  
Annie sat upright and pounded her hand on the worn green chenille of the couch. "You let someone else threaten him before I could? I'm hurt, I'm offended. How could you do this to your best friend? I demand my rights to beat him up before anyone else gets to hurt him."  
  
Hoshi managed a weak grin. "Of course."  
  
"That's better. Hmmph." Annie looked her over with those sharp brown eyes that saw more than her flighty manner showed. She leaned forward and took Hoshi's hand, drawing it away from the wrist she'd gone back to stroking. "So?" She looked pointedly at the wrist in question.  
  
"I threw the bracelet at him," Hoshi said, blushing. "Hit him in the middle of the chest, actually."  
  
Annie threw her head back in raucous laughter. "Whoo hoo! I'm obviously a bad influence on you!"  
  
Hoshi didn't answer immediately, just leaned her head against the back of the couch, trying to draw comfort from the familiar. But everything somehow reminded her of Eric, from the small copper sculpture of a swallow in flight that he'd helped her pick out, to the photo hanging on the far wall of the two of them on vacation in the Shenandoah Valley.   
  
Annie waited patiently for her to gather her thoughts.  
  
"If he'd wanted to break up with me, that would have been one thing," Hoshi said, turning to stare blindly out the rain-spattered window. "But to walk into his apartment and find him kissing Nomali." She bit her lip, the image rising in her mind again. "I knew he'd been spending time with her, but I'm not the jealous sort. There's no reason he can't have female friends. But..." She trailed off.  
  
"I'm sorry, Hoshi," Annie said. "If I'd thought he'd do something like this, I promise I'd have said something."  
  
Hoshi sighed, looking through the rain and fog at the hazy image of nearby buildings. "She's so beautiful."  
  
"Huh?" Annie sounded befuddled. "Um, American Non-sequitur Society, we don't make much sense, but we do like pizza. What are we talking about now?"  
  
Hoshi looked at her. "Nomali. She's...I mean, she's..." She gestured futilely in the air, managing to suggest statuesque curves.  
  
"And?"  
  
"And she makes me feel inadequate," Hoshi snapped at her. "Okay, I admit it. She's gorgeous."  
  
"You, of course, are chopped liver," Annie said, glaring at her. "Geez, when was the last time you looked in a mirror and why the heck am I even debating looks with you when that's not the point? The point is, Eric's a jerk for cheating on you, and you need to eat more chocolate and get over him. Remember, chocolate solves almost everything."  
  
Hoshi smiled a little at their old mantra. "But why'd he do it?" she asked, hating the plaintive tone in her voice.  
  
"I don't know. I'm sure as heck not gonna make excuses for the idiot. But I can tell you he *is* an idiot, to treat you like this. The problem is that he's male. Let's see, you're 19, which makes him 23," Annie was counting on her fingers now. "What's that in male years? 16? 15? That's your problem, you were dating a younger man." She shook her head in consternation. "From now on, only date older men."   
  
"Gee, why didn't I think of that?" Hoshi found her lips twitching.  
  
"That's what I'm here for." Annie patted her on the head.  
  
"Thank you, by the way. I can't believe you made it here so fast."   
  
"I told you," Annie said, stretching her arms and legs out and making her joints pop, "I'll always be here when you need me."  
  
"I appreciate that."  
  
"Eh, you'd do the same for me. Heck, you have."  
  
They were silent for a few long moments, remembering past crises.  
  
"You know, I wore that bracelet every day for a year," Hoshi said, looking at her wrist again.  
  
"I know."  
  
"I'd twist it around and around, watching the little diamond chips flash and try and imagine when I'd get a ring to go along with it. Silly me."  
  
"Not silly." Annie grabbed her wrist again. "Young, maybe. Hopeful, definitely. But not silly. He's the one who's silly. Now, if you'd just follow my lead and chase after women instead..." She grinned at Hoshi, then tried to bat her eyelashes. "Darling, you know I've loved you forever."  
  
Hoshi laughed. "We'd never suit each other."  
  
"You're absolutely sure? Oh, I'm crushed." She placed the back of her hand against her forehead and struck a dramatic pose, which was completely ruined by the wide grin.  
  
Blinking back sudden tears, Hoshi bowed her head. Annie put her arm around her younger friend, and Hoshi leaned gratefully against a shoulder. "It hurts," was all she said.  
  
"I know it does, hon. I know it does," Annie said. "But I guarantee you'll get over him. And someday you'll find a man who treats you the way you deserve. 'Cause you know I'll personally beat up anyone who treats you badly."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Can we eat that chocolate now?"  
  
"Absolutely."  
  
* * * * *  
  
My challenge was linguist/sad/wrist. 


End file.
